The instant invention relates to bicycle racks and more specifically is directed to a bicycle security system which employs a user's automated teller banking card to operate the system and debit accrued charges to the user's bank account.
It has been found that declining economic conditions have forced many people in both the United States and Europe to turn to alternative forms of transportation, such as bicycles, for both business and pleasure. It has also been found that an increasing sophistication in bicycle designs has caused a significant increase in the cost of bicycles over the past several years. The combination of increasing popularity and increasing price has thus made the bicycle a high profile target for thieves. Accordingly, it has been found that there is a growing number of commuter cyclists, in both metropolitan and suburban areas, who lock up their bicycles in public areas, such as outside their place of employment or outside of the city's rapid transit stations.
Heretofore, there have been known several locking bicycle racks which have been operated by various means. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,433,787 issued to Cook et al discloses a locking bicycle rack which is coin-operated. In the Cook disclosure, the user deposits a preset number of coins to unlock the mechanism and locks his/her bike in the rack. The rack is thereafter unlocked by a key-operated lock which captures the key when the rack is unoccupied. Although several types of locking bicycle racks have been available, none of the coin-operated racks has gained widespread acceptance either among cyclists or providers of the racks. One reason the cyclists have not accepted the available racks is that none have provided the ease of use, reliability or security required by today's bicycle owners. Cyclists still tend toward using chain and lock combinations which can be transported with their bicycle even though the chain and lock may be heavy and cumbersome. Cyclists also find it inconvenient to carry around the correct change in order to utilize coin-operated racks. It has thus been determined that cyclists prefer the convenience and security offered by a transportable locking means over the existing locking bicycle racks.
Another reason the racks have not been accepted is that they are highly susceptible to vandalism and misuse. Both the owners of the bicycle racks and the cyclists are wary of the coin-operated racks because of the possibility of vandalism. Often times the coin-operated locking mechanisms are vandalized in order to steal a secured bicycle, or broken into to steal money from the coin box. Bicycle rack owners often spend more money maintaining the racks than they collect from them and thus the racks become a financial liability rather than a profitable investment. It has also been found that cyclists often misuse the racks by locking up their bicycles for lengthy periods of time. Since a predetermined number of coins opens the rack for use, a person using the rack for one hour pays the same amount as a person using the rack for one day or one week. In this regard, the owner of the rack is left with no viable way to collect extra charges from long term users. The heretofore available bicycle racks have thus been found to be inadequate in these regards.